Refrigerator shelf with guide tracks



Jan. 8, 1952 N. J. CREEDON 2,531,363

REFRIGERATOR SHELF WITH GUIDE TRACKS Filed March 20, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.1.

Inventor Neil J. Creedon Jan. 8, 1952 CREEDQN 2,581,363

REFRIGERATOR SHELF WITH GUIDE TRACKS Filed March 20, 1947 s Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 4.

Inventor Neil J. Creedon I I 'I W a flame Jan. 8, 1952 J. CREEDQN 2,581,363

REFRIGERATOR SHELF WITH GUIDE TRACKS Filed March 20, 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fig 7.

44 43 4O 6O 5O 48 47 Inventor Neil J. Oreedon WWW 3m Patented Jan. 8, 1952 OFFICE REFRIGERATOR SHELF WITH GUIDE; TRACKS Neil J. Creedon, Glens Falls, N. Y.

Application March 20, 1947, Serial No. 735,946

3 Claims.

This invention relates to shelves or guide tracks used in connection with refrigerating or storage apparatus or the like and it has for its general object to provide circulation means for securing an orderly sequence in the withdrawal of objects such as bottles, jars, cans and the like from the place of refrigeration, storage, cooling and the like, thus equalizing the period of storage, exposure or refrigeration, which objects placed into the apparatus at different times undergo before withdrawal.

A further object of the invention consists in providing means permitting easy introduction and withdrawal mainly in the front zone of the apparatus while securing at the same time a minimum period of equalized exposure to refrigeration or of storage for objects inserted successively.

In refrigerators and in other apparatus or containers in which bottles, jars, cans and other vessels are stored or exposed to certain influences the period of storage, refrigeration or exposure depends, as a rule, entirely on the operator. In households and in similar places where systematic operations cannot be carried out, the bottles, cans or other objects which are to be stored are placed into any empty space which happens to be available and those which are to be Withdrawn are usually taken at random from the front row. This leads to the consequence that the bottles, cans or other objects in the front row are those mostly used, or have an average storage or refrigeration period within the refrigerator or other container which is much shorter than that of other bottles, cans or objects which happen to be in the background. It is sometimes important that a cer- I tain minimum period of exposure or cooling be maintained or it may be desirable to have bottles or cans thoroughly refrigerated before use. This will not be the case, if they are placed into the front row of a refrigerator cabinet where the temperature is constantly raised whenever the door opens and from whence they are irregularlycurved path, leading into and through the refrigerator and back to the front, along which the bottles, cans or objects advance whenever a new bottle, can or other object is introduced at the front.

According to the invention means are provided for securing an easy and frictionless advance along tracks within these channels or lanes and especially along those curved portions of the same which produce a reversal of the direction of travelling of the bottles, cans or other objects towards the front side in which the friction is heavy and in which the effort is partly wasted as the forces applied to the bottles and objects are transmitted to the walls and do no longer coincide with the direction of advance.

The invention will be more fully described in the following detailed specification referring to the accompanying drawings in which several modifications of the invention have been illustrated. It is however to be understood that the drawings and the specification show and describe examples for the purpose of explaining the invention and the principles on which it is based. These examples do not attempt to provide an enumeration of the embodiments which may be designed in order to carry the invention into effect and therefore modifications of the examples shown and described may be relative to a further embodiment of the invention and do not necessarily constitute a departure from the in vention:

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a shelf according to the invention.

Figure 2 is an elevational side view of the same.

Figure 3 is a perspective view ofthe means for attaching a removable guiding or partitionwall to the horizontal or supporting portion ,of the shelf.

Figure 4 is an elevational view of a partition wall.

Figure 5 is an elevational sectional view of the said wall when held in its place.

Figure 6 is a plan view of a modified shelf.

Figure '7 is an elevational side view of the modification shown in Figure 6. a

As above explained a shelf is provided according to the invention which is capable of circulating objects such as bottles, cans or the like along a curved path consisting in the examples illustrated in the drawings of two substantially parallel channels joined by a returning or direction reversing channel, preferably of substantially semi-circular or semi-elliptical form.

This shelf may be a part of the refrigerator or storage cabinet installation and may be fixedly arranged therein and connected with or form part of the compartment walls. It may however also be a separate unit placed into the refrigerator or storage cabinet. The latter case is illustrated in Figures 1-5 of the drawings, while the former is illustrated in Figures 6-8.

It will be readily understood that in the majority of cases the location and direction of the two parallel channels will be such that they point in the direction usually called depth of the cabinet and that they run away from the door or opening which provides accessibility. Both channels end near said door or opening and one of said channels is always used .for introducing or feeding fresh bottles, cans or the like to be stored, while bottles or cans which are removed for use or other purposes are taken from the other or delivery channel. It will also be understood that the user or operator by placing the bottles or cans into one channel pushes back the bottles or cans which have been placed on the trackway of said channel previously and that this is part of the intended operation. By pushing back the bottles, cans, jars and the like in or near the front, the entire file or row of objects in both channels is moved with some bot tles, cans, jars and the like moving to the rear, some moving in the direction reversing connecting channel and some moving towards the front.

The shelf, according to the embodiment of the invention shown in Figures 1 and 2 comprises a horizontal or supporting base 10 which may be held within a frame H and which supports the vertical guiding walls. In the example shown the entire shelf forms a kind of cage permitting free circulation of air in order to make the shelf fit for use within a refrigerator. The base portion therefore consists of longitudinal bars l2 and cross bars 13 crossing each other and welded or soldered to each other and to the frame ill. The longitudinal bars 52 are preferably uppermost and form a guideway or track on which the bottles, cans, jars etc. which are usually of circular form may move along. The base portion of the shelf consists of a frontal zone or portion la in which the longitudinal bars l2 are running in parallel with the bars of the frame H and which forms the base of the straight and parallel channels and of a rear portion I in which the bars are bent or curved along a circular or elliptical line. Preferably therefore the longitudinal bars :2 run through both channels without interruption and each bar consists of two straight sections joined by a curved or semi-circular section.

The cross bars (3 in the frontal portion i are arranged in parallel but in the direction reversing portion, they are preferably arranged radially.

Along each side of the frame a guiding cage wall consisting likewise of bars crossing each other is formed. The bars H which may be termed longitudinal bars are preferably arranged at the inside of the cage and are running around the entire structure forming lateral tracks on the sides of the shelf, the straight sections Ha, [1b in the frontal portion are joined by a semicircular, semi-elliptica-l or otherwise curved poltion 18 in the rear or direction reversing portion 15. They are joined by vertical cross bars is joining them arranged on the outside of the case.

The longitudinal bars ll form the lateral 4. trackway or the guide rails along which thebotties, jars, cans or other objects may advance without much friction.

It will however be clear that during the advance along the trackways the bottles, cans or jars will experience the greatest friction along the guide walls of the direction reversing zone. It is therefore preferable to provide rollers 20 at least in this section of the shelf. These rollers, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, are preferably arranged in spaced zones formed between two longitudinal bars H which are subdivided by an additional bar it. The rollers are turning either on cross bars is or on axles 22 forming short additional cross bars inserted between the longitudinal bars. Preferably the rollers 20 of each zone are arranged, in two rows or files and are staggered. The rollers of each file are arranged in close proximity to each other so that the surface of the object advancing through the direction reversal section of the shelf is always in touch with a number of said rollers.

Rollers may also be arranged on the base portion of the shelf in the same way with the rim of the rollers supporting the objects so as to reduce friction on the support during movement; experience has shown however that the supporting of bottles, jars or cans by rollers is not of great advantage.

In order to make the shelf as compact as possible the inner or adjacent guide walls of the shelf may be formed by a single partition wall 25 reaching from a point in or behind the frontal zone i l to the direction reversing semi-circular or semi-elliptical zone [5. This partition wall 25 as shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5 may consist of a frame 28 with vertical cross bars 26, encircled by longitudinal guide bars 21 running around the frame and forming a kind of stretched '9: or elongated loop. These longitudinal bars form a guide rail system on each side of the partition wall.

The partition wall may be made easily removable. The removability of the partition wall serves several purposes. It is first of advantage during the manufacturing process, as the manufacturing of the shelf without a partition wall is a simplification of the process. A further advantage is gained when the partition wall is adapted for easy removal by the user of the refrigerator or storage cabinet and when the partition is so attached that the shelf without the partition offers an uninterrupted smooth supporting base. The shelf in this case may be used merely as a kind of compartment which may be moved to any place for holding objects of a certain kind.

In order to provide a detachable partition wall 25, leaving at the same time the base portion uninterrupted and smooth, the frame 28 of the partition wall 25 is provided at its base with pairs of outwardly projecting aligned and spaced foot members 38 welded or soldered to the lowermost portion of the frame 28. These members cooperate with a number of aligned and spaced supports 3! with upturned edges 32 forming 1ongitudinal grooves or slide paths which grip and hold the outer edges 33 of the foot members 30. These members may be inserted by sliding the frame along the a igned supports 3|. If the spacing of foot members 39 and supports 3! is properly selected the partition wall may be inserted from above by introducing the said foot members into the empty spaces between the aligned supports 3i and by securing engagement between said foot members and said support by a sliding longitudinal movement.

As the partition wall may be inserted from above the supports may be arranged below the level of the longitudinal track bars l2 which form the base of the shelf or with their uppermost and bent border at a level with the plane of support.

The shelf as described and as shown in Figures 1 to 5 forms a separate unit which may be inserted into or removed from the refrigerator. It is placed on one of the refrigerator shelves. In order to avoid relative movement it is provided with hook shaped projections 36 which grip the front bar of the shelf and provide a sumcient fixation.

The shelf has been described as a cage like structure which, as well known, permits free circulation of air, essential in a refrigerator cabinet. However the shelf may be made in a different manner, for instance, by using sheet iron with punched out holes and with elevated inwardly projecting punched longitudinal ribs of a semicircular cross section acting as longitudinal guide rails. The rollers in the rear zone may in this case turn on axles held in cuts of the sheet iron between the ribs by rolled in portions of the sheet.

Construction of this type may be provided with a grid consisting of parallel or crossing bars, as described, the frame H) of which is secured to the sheet iron walls by welding or soldering. Alternatively a sheet iron base with large punched holes may be provided. The latter construction will be best suited for shelves to be used in nonrefrigerating storage cabinets or containers.

In Figures 6, 7 and 8 of the drawings a modification of the invention is shown in the form of a built in shelf, although this construction may as well as the construction shown in Figures 1 and 2 form a separate unit to be placed into the refrigerator. It will be clear that the use of the shelf according to the invention especially in the case of heavy objects, bottles or jars depends largely on the ease with which the row of bottles may be moved. This movement occurs mainly by pushing the front bottle in one of the channels backwardly and this pushing operation has to displace a number of bottles which in most cases'is larger than four. Notwithstanding the reduction of friction by means of the rollers shown in Figures 1 and 2 the effort required for the displacement of a number of objects may prove to be large in the event that heavy objects are moved.

In order to reduce this effort the modification of the invention as shown in Figures 6 and '7, provides a shelf having a special direction reversing means, consisting in a turntable 40 filling the rear zone or portion of the shelf. The shelf is again provided with two parallel channels formed by a supporting base 10 with longitudinal guiding bars I2 held by cross bars l3 on the underside. These bars however are not connected with each other but are cut to an appropriate length and are all united by welding, soldering or the like to an approximately semi-circular bar 4| or circular bar which is held within a suitable frame 42. This bar 41 encircles a circular opening 44. Below this opening a pocket is formed by means of crossing bars 43, which are welded to the circular bar 4| and to a further circular bar 45 encircling the other side of the opening. The crossing bars 43 support a center piece 56 serving as a bearing for an axle bar 46 on which the turntable 40 may turn. The turntable preferably consists of circu lar rails .41 forming a supporting base'and held by a number of radial cross bars 48 below them. The circular rails are disposed in the same level in which the longitudinal guiding rails or bars l2 are arranged, so that an object advancing along the rails or bars l2 will be pushed on the'turntable without effort. A central hub member may be welded to said cross bars.

The shelf is again provided with lateral guide walls 49, consisting of guide rails50 held by cross bars 5|, behind them. These lateral guide walls surround closely the rear side of the turntable 40 and are preferably joined to the rear circular bar 44 encircling the circular opening. The construction and shape of these lateral guiding walls is similar to that already described in connection with Figures 1 and 2 and no further description seems to be necessary.

The partition in this case is fixedly connected with the shelf and is held by. flat strips 52 and cross bars 53 encircled by guide rails 55 forming an elongated loop. The partition wall in this case ends near the center of the turntable and its last cross bar may be formed by the axle bar 46. Rollers 56 may be arranged along said axle bar between the guide rails 55 so as to facilitate the turning of objects placed near the center of the turntable 40.

The turntable rests on the center piece 50 and turns around the axle bar with its hub member serving a a bearing for such rotation.

It will be clear that merely the bottles, cans or objects to be moved along the straight portions U- of the channel offer some kind of resistance against movement, while the objects which have been pushed on the turntable will move around practically without noticeable resistance.

It will be noted that the shelf i completely accessible from above and that therefore objects may be inserted at or may be removed from any place along the track without difliculty if desired.

The use, operation and the advantages gained will be clear from the foregoing description. Assuming that milk or beer bottles, cans or other objects are placed into one of the channels, say the one shown uppermost in the plan view, of Figure 1, then it is only necessary to place each fresh bottle into the frontal zone of said channel. It is assumed that the shelf is of such a size that a bottle, can or jar placed into the shelf will approximately fill the greater part of the channel or at least a substantial portion of it. A bottle, can or jar may then be placed into the shelf only by pushing back the bottle which happens to be there and the latter will therefore be pushed back towards the rear of the shelf and will move further bottles placed behind it. On account of the guide rails and rollers the effort of pushing back the entire row of bottles or jars will be minimized. When a sufiicient number of bottles or jars have been placed into the channel and have been pushed back, some of these bottles or jars will have reached the front or an advanced position in the other channel, from which position removal takes place.

The shelf therefore takes automatically care of the regular sequence of removal in keeping with the order in which the bottles have been placed into the refrigerator. In households where it is difiicult to have a regular system observed, the shelf according to the invention provides a system preventing a completely irregular use in all cases in which a certain storage or refrigerator period is expected to be observed. For industrial pur- 7, poses the shelf is a labor saving safety appliance eliminating marking or recording systems in cases in which a certain minimum period of exposure to some cooling or heating influence i prescribed.

It has been assumed in the above description of examples that the shelf is made of steel wires or rails or of sheet iron. It may be mentioned however that the material of which the shelf or its parts are made may be plastics or glass or socalled Plexiglas. These materials may be used for the body of the shelf as well as for the rollers and the partition and its parts. These materials produce an attractive appearance, are inexpensive, are non-conductors of heat and are acid resisting so that they present many advantages.

It will be clear from the above that the cons'truction of the details will conform itself to the material used andis not of influence on the embodiment of the invention and that this construction may therefore be changedwithout substant'ial modification of the shelves as described and claimed.

I-claim: f

1, In a shelf construction for refrigerator cabi nets and other containers, a compartment of U-shaped cross section, having in longitudinal direction the form of a U-shaped channel with closely adjacent sections, consisting of a cage like structure formed by intercrossing bars, with an outer lateral guiding wall provided with longitudinal guiding rails arranged at a distance running along the wall, with straight sections and a curved section joining the same, held by vertical cross bars arranged at a distance, an uninterrupted trackway consisting of horizontal guide rails arranged at adistance and held by norizontal'cross bars arranged at a distance, said guide rails having straight sections joined by curved sections substantially parallel to the guide wall sections, rows of staggered rollers arranged in close proximity to each other on the outer curved wallsection on axles at right angle to the trackw'ay, and a common inner guide wall for both closely adjacent channel sections, consisting of a straight wall section and provided with horizontal guide rails arranged at a distance and of vertical cross bars arranged at a distance holdme the same.

2. A shelf construction as claimed in claim 1 wherein the Straight inner guide wall is detachably attached to the trackway.

3. A shelf construction as claimed in claim 1-, wherein the straight inner guide wall is provided with'sp'aced aligned foot members, and wherein spaced aligned holding members are arranged between the two straight trackway sections below the level of the trackway for holding the foot members attached to the inner guide wall.

NEIL J. CREEDON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 1 Number Name Date 714,432 Alvey Nov. 25, 1902 824,387 $ewall et al. June 26, 1906 935,669 Logan Oct. 5-, 1909 2,029,109 Kucher Jan. 28, 1936 2,109,999 Johnson -1 Mar. 1, 1938 2,239,369 Nauert Apr. 22, 1941 

